On Thursday, as the country celebrated 73 years of Independence, 300 members of the National Restaurant Association of India’s Gurgaon chapter sought independence from food aggregators that offer subscribers to their schemes deep discounts on dining experiences. Now, the NRAI’s Mumbai chapter has issued a poster --which restaurants will be encouraged to display – which decries the practices of entities like Zomato, Magicpin, NearBuy, EazyDiner and Dineout as ‘unjust.’

“We have no option but to #Logout” it says, referring to the NRAI Twitter campaign which was launched on August 15. It saw prominent Gurgaon restauranteurs delisting their properties from aggregating platforms whose schemes, restaurateurs say, offer subscribers ‘unsustainable discounts'.

Anurag Katriar, who heads NRAI’s Mumbai chapter, told
Mirror that more and more Mumbai restaurateurs are joining the protest, even many who are not NRAI members. Brijesh Pande, CEO of BKC’s Drinkery 51 said the campaign has his support. “We have opted out from all the offers and discounts that food aggregators are offering,” Pande said. Restaurateur Zorawar Kalra, an NRAI member who is also supporting the protest, pointed out that the issue has to do with aggregators with big customer databases, who are offering massive discounts, “in an industry that is already operating with razor-thin margins.”

Kalra, whose properties include the high-end restaurants Pa Pa Ya and Masala Library said, “Many new restaurateurs feel compelled to partner with these aggregators, as they feel they will lose out to competitors if they don’t. And, because there are so many aggregators, there are days when every single diner at a restaurant has some discount deal to avail of. How are restaurants meant to make a profit? Many places are struggling to stay afloat in the first place.”

The poster to be displayed at restaurants

Katriar, CEO, deGustibus Hospitality, which owns, among other properties, Indigo deli and Indian restaurant Neel -- the Nariman Point outlet of which shut down recently -- added, “These schemes have become a cash cow for aggregators, who have nothing to lose. They earn from subscriptions to their discount programmes, and they charge restaurants to list them, while restaurants alone bear the additional impact of the discounts offered. This is why our campaign is gathering momentum.”

However, in an email response, a spokesperson for Zomato, told
Mirror: “As of now, less than 1 per cent of the restaurant partners of Gold [Zomato’s subscription-based scheme, which entitles customers to complimentary meals/drinks] have supported the challenges raised by the NRAI. We are actively engaging with our restaurant partners to resolve any issues that they might have, and we continue to sign up new restaurants to bring more choice to users.”

Dineout co-founder Ankit Mehrotra added that Dineout is also working closely with its restaurant partners to arrive at a workable solution. Mehrotra pointed out that it’s important to remember that these deals also “fill restaurants”.

“Dineout’s ‘Great Indian Restaurant Festival’ programme, where customers can avail of higher discounts, is only offered for a limited time, and restricted to limited covers per restaurant per day – with restaurants setting their own cover limit and black out timings and so on, in a way that works for them,” said Mehrotra. “And, it encourages people to dine out, and to try different restaurants,” he said.

A regular user of such platforms, Marol-based Anubhav Chakraborty, 28, told
Mirror he and his wife dine out once a week, thrice as often as they used to before they signed up for discount deals. He’s not worried about losing his subscription fees, Chakraborty said, as, “In a year, I’ve already recovered 50 times the subscription fees.” But, Chakraborty, who’s a senior manager at a non-banking financial company, also added, “If the discount schemes are cancelled, my wife and I will certainly eat out less often. And, it would be apity.”